Matrizes ISSN: 1982-2073 ISSN: 1982-8160 [email protected] Universidade de São Paulo Brasil Penner, Tomaz Affonso; Straubhaar, Joseph D. Netflix originals and exclusively licensed titles in brazilian catalog: mapping producing countries Matrizes, vol. 14, no. 1, 2020, -, pp. 125-149 Universidade de São Paulo Brasil DOI: https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-8160.v14i1p125-149 Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=143066433015 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System Redalyc More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Journal's webpage in redalyc.org Portugal Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative 125 Netflix originals and exclusively licensed titles in Brazilian catalog: a mapping producing countriesa Títulos originais e licenciados com exclusividade no catálogo brasileiro da Netflix: um mapeamento dos países produtores TOMAZ AFFONSO PENNERb Universidade de São Paulo, Graduate Program in Communication Sciences. São Paulo – SP, Brazil JOSEPH D. STRAUBHAARc The University of Texas at Austin, School of Journalism. Austin – Texas, USA ABSTRACT The main goal of this study is to map the countries that produce the original and exclusive a Translated by Joseph D. Straubhaar. titles for the Netflix Brazilian catalog and to evaluate Latin America’s participation in this b Doctoral student in the archive. The results indicate that Netflix is investing in the diversification of the producing Graduate Program in countries, although this is not enough to contain the trend of the maintenance of Latin Comunication Sciences of University of São Paulo. America’s cultural dependence in relation to the advance of the United States’ cultural Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000- 0003-2690-5599. E-mail: productions. The transnational standard adopted by Netflix brings debates regarding the [email protected] associated-dependent development, in which Latin American productions have grown, c Amon G. Carter, Sr. but associated with a mechanism that also benefits big American media companies. Centennial Professor of Comunication in the School of Keywords: Netflix, streaming, cultural dependence, Latin America Journalism The University of Texas at Austin. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000- 0001-8285-1498. E-mail: RESUMO [email protected] O objetivo do trabalho é mapear os países produtores de títulos originais e exclusivos do catálogo brasileiro da Netflix e verificar qual a participação da América Latina nesta constituição. Os resultados apontam para o investimento da Netflix na diversificação dos países produtores, apesar de ainda não ser suficiente para conter uma tendência à manutenção da dependência cultural da América Latina em relação ao avanço de conteúdos dos Estados Unidos. O caráter transnacional adotado pela Netflix levanta discussões sobre um desenvolvimento dependente-associado, em que produções da América Latina ganham espaço no fluxo global de televisão, mas submetidas a um mecanismo que beneficia também grandes companhias de mídia estadunidenses. Palavras-chave: Netflix, streaming, dependência cultural, América Latina DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-8160.v14i1p125-149 V.14 - Nº 1 jan./abr. 2020 São Paulo - Brasil PENNER | STRAUBHAAR p. 125-149 125 Netflix originals and exclusively licensed titles in Brazilian catalog INTRODUCTION N ADDITION TO the recognition of the traditional media, especially television, as a cultural phenomenon in Brazil and Latin America (Martín- Barbero, 2001) that are relevant for understanding local mediations, it is Iimportant to consider that it is a force as “a model of production, distribution, and reception – a model that changes over time to a version that is more mobile 1 In original: “um modelo in relation to the dominant norm1” (Miller, 2014, p. 93). To understand how de produção, distribuição e recepção – um modelo que it configures the transformations that focus on audiovisual products today, we muda ao longo do tempo para propose an analysis of Netflix (http://netflix.com) as a representative of the uma versão mais móvel em relação à norma dominante”. production and distribution systems for streaming content on-demand, which This and other translation of have established themselves as a worldwide trend in audiovisual production the author. and consumption. In the streaming content of production, distribution, and consumption model adopted by Netflix, national products are offered in other countries, such as Netflix’s original Brazilian series 3%, which became successful in the United States (Ferraz, 2019). Despite this potential spread, national television productions have to compete with a new wave of imported products from the United States, Asia, and Europe, which hampers the production, distribution and consumption systems available from streaming technologies. Therefore, it is possible to understand that “depending on the democratization of internet access, Netflix may, in a short time, be responsible 2 In original: “a depender da for a complete paradigm shift in the way the audience consumes TV2” (Lima, democratização do acesso à internet, a Netflix poderá, em Moreira, & Calazans, 2015, p. 255). pouco tempo, ser a responsável This scenario shifts a significant part of the audience to individualized por uma completa mudança de paradigma na forma como a reception formats (Machado & Vélez, 2014), which is possible mainly due audiência consome TV”. to online digital devices, guided by artificial intelligence and big data, whose producers have emerged in different ways over the media concentration of the traditional Brazilian and Latin American television model. To understand these changes that are occurring rapidly not only in Brazil, but also on a global scale, this article analyzes the original and exclusively licensed productions from Netflix available on the Brazilian version of the platform until May 11, 2018, to map the origins of the titles that compose this part of the catalog and verify the participation of Latin American producers in the offered products. The results point to a certain investment by Netflix in the diversification of the producing countries, although it is not solid enough to contain a tendency of maintaining a cultural dependence (Fox, 1992; Straubhaar, 1991) by Latin America in relation to the advance of content from the United States and other English-speaking countries. Despite this, the transnational feature that has been adopted by Netflix, both in relation to the distribution and consumption of content, as well as its production, also raises questions about 126 V.14 - Nº 1 jan./abr. 2020 São Paulo - Brasil PENNER | STRAUBHAAR p. 125-149 TOMAZ AFFONSO PENNER | JOSEPH D. STRAUBHAAR AGENDA IN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH associated-dependent development (Cardoso, 1973; Straubhaar, 2007), in which Latin American producers gain space in the global television stream, but subject to a mechanism that also benefits large American media companies. NETFLIX To understand the dimension that the on-demand streaming distribution phenomenon has taken today, it is noteworthy that Netflix released a report pointing out that in the last quarter of 2019, the number of its subscribers reached more than 67 million in the United States and Canada, 47.4 million in Europe, the Middle East and Asia and 29.4 million in Latin America (Solsman, 2019). Data collected while this article was in the review stage for publication indicate that the total number of Netflix subscribers in the world in March 2020 reached more than 167 million (Lee, 2020). In Brazil, it is estimated that there were between eight and ten million subscribers at the end of 2018, although Netflix does not release official figures (Carvalho, 2018). Hence, the corporation quickly became one of the most popular on-demand streaming video operators and, by investing in original programming, the largest series producer in the world – as shown in Table 2. Founded in 1997 by the North Americans Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, Netflix started as a movie rental service, via delivery and return of the titles through the United States postal system, upon internet requests. After that, in 1999, the company launched a monthly subscription service, which gave customers unlimited DVD rentals. This innovative precursor model of the system we know today was a success, which led to an attempt to sell Netflix to its largest competitor at the time, the Blockbuster film rental chain, in the 2000s. Since it did not believe in the business model proposed by the young company, Blockbuster did not accept the deal, and ironically, the former video rental services giant filed for bankruptcy in the United States ten years later (Kleina, 2017). In 2002, Netflix already had 600,000 subscribers to its home DVD delivery system, and had more than 11,500 titles (Netflix, 2018). At that time, the company’s shares began to be traded on Nasdaq. The real business boom, however, came in 2007, when the streaming service was launched. Regarding this change, we present the considerations of Ladeira (2018): Streaming gives the platform a capability that is not to be underestimated: to observe the actions of its users, which are nothing than the actions of their bodies. The intention of monitoring inscribed in the nature of digital services makes this V.14 - Nº 1 jan./abr. 2020 São Paulo - Brasil PENNER | STRAUBHAAR p. 125-149 127 Netflix originals and exclusively licensed titles in Brazilian catalog evaluation of the body